Islamic Society (13 Sep 2016 NewAgeIslam.Com)

Today is the holiest day in the Muslim calendar. It marks the "Festival of the Sacrifice", known as Eid al-Azha or Baqr Eid, celebrated at the end of Hajj.

Eid al-Azha has great spiritual significance. It is a celebration of Prophet Ibrahim’s total surrender to God’s will. When God asked him to sacrifice his son, Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, went so far as to bring his beloved child to the metaphorical sacrificial block. However, Prophet Ibrahim’s son was replaced by a lamb which got sacrificed instead. It was merely the intention of sacrifice that God required.

“It is not their flesh, nor their blood, that reaches Allah; but your devotion will reach Him (Quran 2:196; 2:28. 35 -37)

The significance of this is obvious. God is clearly telling Muslims that it is not the sacrifice which will please God, but their “devotion.” Unfortunately, it is this very dimension that is missing in today’s festivities. Sacrifice, in the manner God intended, would require sacrificing something dear to you. It should not merely be a ritual of buying goats and sheep and killing them in such large numbers that their meat can’t even be consumed, as happens every year in Saudi Arabia.

Today marks the "festival of the sacrifice", known as Eid al-Adha or Baqr Eid, celebrated at the end of Hajj. (Photo credit: Reuters)

Prophet Mohammad was very emphatic in his views on animal sacrifice: “if you MUST kill, kill without torture.” Unfortunately, this admonition is also ignored. The two million animals that were sacrificed in Saudi Arabia at the end of Hajj yesterday had been brought to the country in most horrible conditions, many of them dying en route.

I personally witnessed the torture animals go through when I was in Karachi on Baqr Eid, a few years ago. The whole city appeared to have turned into a slaughter house. One could hear the cries of goats and sheep for days before Eid, while they were still being traded in city squares and even in roundabouts on major arterial roads. The animals apparently knew what fate was awaiting them. It was the obscenity of the whole scene that I cannot forget. Baqr Eid, the holiest of days, had descended into an orgy of blood-letting, with the “devotion” that God requires completely missing.

The callousness we Muslims display towards animals would give the impression that the religion of Islam is indifferent to the fate of animals. In fact, Islam requires Muslims to protect, not just Human Rights, but Huqooq ul Ibaad or the rights of all creations of God.

Huqooq ul Ibaad is considered so important that it is given primacy even over Huqooq Allah or our duties towards God. While God may forgive us for our transgressions, given his Benevolent and Merciful nature, His creations will not even recognise us on the Day of Judgement. So we must fulfil our duties towards creations of God in this very world, since we cannot hope for forgiveness from them on the Day of Judgement.

Muslims should also remember the conduct of the Prophet in treating animals with kindness. On many occasions, during his journeys, he delayed prayers for the sake of first relieving the animals of their burden, and giving them food and water. He would refuse to lead prayers until animals were looked after first. He told several stories of people being forgiven all their sins for having shown consideration for a dog or a cat. According to Imam Abu Dawud, the Prophet forbade the hitting of animals on their faces and branding them. He also forbade sports based on animal fights.

Multiple instances of this concern for animals can also be found throughout the Quran. The story of Prophet Salih, told in the Quran (6: 73 and 7: 77-78), involves the destruction of the Thalmud, a nation whose people killed a she-camel against the express orders of Prophet Salih (pbuh). The story of Prophet Noah’s Flood, as described in the Quran, clearly states that Prophet Noah was asked to first load a pair of all animals and then his followers.

Contemporary Muslims clearly need to learn from their scriptures, follow the Prophet, and stop this cruelty to animals.

The situation is changing for the better, at least in some places. The blood orgy in Karachi is having a salutary effect. Some people in Pakistan have stopped sacrificing animals and started giving money to charity on the advice of some Islamic scholars. I know of a few individuals in India who have also started this practice. Hopefully, encouraged by the South Asian Muslim media, this will eventually become the norm.

Sultan Shahin is the founder-editor of a Delhi-based progressive Islamic website NewAgeIslam.com

This article appeared first in India Today’s online newspaper Daily O.

TOTAL COMMENTS:- &nbsp 218

What about thousands of SIKHS, men, women and children tortured and Killed by the Rulers who were followed of Islam. Unparalleled torture was unleashed on the Sikhs. If it was not sanctioned by Islam, why the present Muslims condemn that and say that something Islamic had happened. That will go a long way to create social harmony. By Nirmal Singh Singh - 9/25/2016 9:11:12 PM

Iqbal Husain dont try to pls your sinful orgies by saying plants too have life , a zakir naik the sinners and evil must be your guru i guess lol. agreed they have life but so do poisionous plants,stones ,mountains etc so why not eat them too lol scientifically proved ,their you have sense isnt it not to eat stones ,poisonous plants etc so similarly mudering someone and eating is sinful and medically red meats beef pork goats sheeps meat all harmful that is also scientific and more scientific cannibalist imprisoned say chids meat more tasty so start eating that esp starr from your children .kyun kua hua shock laga ,jis bakre ki wajah se ibrahims son saved that bakra and its breed you should be thankful but look at your sin you murder it and that too for orgy thinking GOD will be happy shame on you ,which god can be happy w this dreadful shocking sitd only a devil can so God has given you brains ie eat what is best ie plants first and then if not available then can eat animals for hunger and not to murder for orgy or sacrifice this jungle or natures law even jungle animals and all good muslims amd otger religion know but what a shame humans esp radical muslims dont know so stop the madness and satisfying yourself w a lie like zakir that all is scientific ,hope your ignorance gone and you will repent in prayers or the loss will be yours.amen By Chandan Pandit - 9/25/2016 9:05:32 PM

Aayinaji, I have fallen in love with your language, half of which I do not understand. I thought you were Hindi medium, but now I find your Hindi expression is equally enigmatic. Of course you would not tell us anything about yourself, so I have to keep groping you in the dark. You can say, at this age what else I could do, even if you were sakshat before me ! Fine. Don't be so pricky about the word bastard, because liberated ladies in the West now proudly claim to beget bastard kids. About forty percent of Americans today are proud to be real bastards. Personally, I don't have anything against a child who is born out of wedlock. I love them as much.

But actually language should help a person to express the correct content of his feelings. Use of 'bastard' serves well to convey contempt for rascals, at least for old hands, like me. May be future generation will have to look for some other word because bastard may become an honorific signifying liberation of womankind.

By Manzurul Haque - 9/24/2016 8:59:40 AM

Thanks God, Mr Naseer Ahmed Islam may be different than Manzural Haque Islam, he still likes word Basterds.

Naseer Ahemd please explain Manzural Haqe that, Islam try to reform that any child born even from slave women of Muslim man will be free man or women, Manzarual Haque still likes words Basterds.

May be in heaven God makes Men pregnant out of wedlock, heavenly Basterds.

Does he is really a Lawer, may be in Indian court they use word Bastered, A bad Hindu influence, बेचारे मूसलमान, हमेशा दूसरी, सीरक करनेवाली कामों के साथ रहेते, ज़बान बी बीगड जाती है।.

Thanks to All who thinks that animals killed for eating is controlling population of that animals.

What about Human, how we should control this animal called Human, whose consumption of natural resource is about enermous than all other creature, May be ISIS, RSS and so called Christian world hiding under name westerners doing some Qurbani thanks keep controlling human population.

Lot of friends here blame only the Muslims for atrocities on humans but what about the RSS and the bjp bhakts? Look how they treat the dalits men and women. Torturing them and minorities in the call gau mata rakshaks. Etc etc etc and etc. By Mohammed Naeemullah - 9/22/2016 9:07:31 PM

Animals are costly than muslims. ....this is new world order....keep it up.....mehdi will kill muslims at first.....

kurbani is not just killing of animals it is something in which you have to feed animal like your family members.. after long time when u get affection for that particular animal then you have to sacrifice that animal for the sake of feeding poor peoples.. do not blame only muslims there are many companies like kfc and many others that are killing thousands of animals daily for their bussiness purpose then nobody spot them and muslims sacrifice once in a year just for feeding poors then u r having problem... sacrifice of animals on eid never cause pollution... according to islam blood should be burried in land and other residues should also be burried so that it does not causes any pollution in atmosphere and water bodies .. if peoples are not following rules that is not fault of islam... just imagine if cattles(excluding cows) are not killed then their population will increase drastically and then think about amount of greenry they require to feed themself that will also lead to deforestation.... By Muveen Khan - 9/22/2016 1:46:48 PM

I unable to understand your writing or post . first off all just you you are a Muslim second thing you had written that love animal and third is haqoqoolibaad.

As a Muslim if you are having capacity to sacrifice you must have sacrifice animal as per you capacity to purchase for quarbaani.

The author must have written the piece while cherishing the chicken pizza at KFC or MC Donald's or some other food outlet that serve millions of chicks etc everything day globally. By Zubair Saleem - 9/22/2016 1:38:03 PM